About the Collection

UW Madison Class Albums

From at least 1872 until the early 1890s, when the Badger Yearbook seemed on pretty firm footing, most classes at the University of Wisconsin created a class album. All of the albums have photographs of students, and sometimes faculty members. Many of the albums also have autobiographical essays, which range from very short, basic facts to some which are more than a page with students obviously responding to a series of questions. Some also include a history of the class, usually written by the class historian.

These albums are invaluable sources for the early history of students on campus. As an example, in the album for 1874, the first year that women were admitted into the university proper (women had been on campus in the Normal Department and Female College since at least the mid 1860s), most students talk about whether they support co-education. Students often mention their political and religious affiliations, whether they are self supporting, what their future plans are, etc. The albums are also of obvious interest to genealogists.

Together, the class albums and the Badger Yearbook provide a nearly continuous history of students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

About the Collection

University Communications Library Collection

According to a history written by Jack Burke, managing editor of UW’s News Service from 1965-1977, two UW professors created the first UW-Madison monthly news periodical back in 1870. Further efforts by professors at the turn of the 20th century led Helen Patterson Hyde, a UW journalism professor from 1923-1958, to propose that Wisconsin was actually the first state university to establish a news service. During the 1930s and 1940s the office was called by turns "Press Bureau," "Information Service," and "News Service," before it settled on "University of Wisconsin News Service" in 1945. By 1973 its official title was “University of Wisconsin-Madison News and Publications Service,” and as the office’s scope expanded further, became the “Office of News and Public Affairs” in 1984. Since 2000 the office has been known as University Communications.

Located in the basement of Bascom Hall, the University Communications Library has served the research needs of University Communications staff members since 1948. The library’s main collection consists of about 10,000 files of news clippings about the people, departments, buildings, and subjects that make the University of Wisconsin-Madison what it is today. University Communications publications and press releases comprise a significant part of this collection, especially during the early years of its existence. The library also has perhaps the only collection of newsletters and publications produced by offices and departments all over the UW-Madison campus. A graduate project assistant in the School of Library and Information Studies works twenty hours per week to tend the files and answer reference queries about the university’s history.

In an effort to get the word out about this hidden treasure, we have begun working with the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center to develop a virtual collection accessible to everyone online. Due to potential copyright issues, only releases written by University Communications staff members are available digitally. The original paper files at the University Communications Library also contain clippings of related stories published in newspapers around the state, the nation, and sometimes the world. These files range in size from one sheet of paper to several inches thick. For more information about specific people or subjects, please contact the University Communications Librarian at
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, phone 608-262-8280, or visit the web site at http://www.news.wisc.edu/library/index.html

About the Collection

The Cultural Landscape of the UW-Madison Campus image gallery was developed as a research tool to support a two-year effort to inventory and assess cultural landscape resources on the University of Wisconsin-Madison main campus. The study will culminate in November 2005 with the publication of a Cultural Landscape Resource Plan. This plan will provide university administrators with direction for preserving and managing these culturally significant places.

Given the constraints of the two-year research schedule it was not possible to review all sites on the campus that have historic, cultural or archaeological significance. The selection of images, maps and site plans reflects our primary interest in eight campus sectors:

Bascom Hill

Library Mall

Memorial Union Terrace

John Muir Park

Camp Randall Memorial Park

Henry Mall

Observatory Hill

Agricultural campus

In addition to historic images, this collection also contains 25 text-based volumes that provide insight into the University's history and development. Resources include materials that document campus landmarks, the history of housing at UW, campus planning and architecture, and more!

About the Collection

The History of UW-Milwaukee Collection includes resources that document the history and evolution of this campus. The collection includes published material as well as archival materials and may eventually include additional books, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, maps and other resources deemed important to the study of our state's university system and its campuses. The materials included in this rich and growing collection were selected by librarians, scholars, and other subject specialists.

About the Collection

The History of UW-Oshkosh Collection includes resources that document the history and evolution of this campus. The collection includes published material as well as archival materials and may eventually include additional books, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, maps and other resources deemed important to the study of our state's university system and its campuses. The materials included in this rich and growing collection were selected by librarians, scholars, and other subject specialists.